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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - U.S. Catholic bishops said on Tuesday that gay men and women should be welcomed in the church but that those who engage in homosexual activity should not receive Communion.

Guidelines adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged gays and lesbians to participate in the church, while reaffirming long-standing church doctrine that same-sex activity, as with any extramarital sex, is inherently sinful.

"Because homosexual acts cannot fulfill the natural end of human sexuality they are never morally acceptable," said Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who headed the committee that crafted the guidelines. "Such act furthermore do not lead to true human happiness."

The church has publicly wrestled with sex in recent years amid a widespread pedophile priest scandal and the national debate on gay marriage. The pedofiles were disproportionately homosexual. Is this a surprise?

The new guidelines acknowledge that gays and lesbians do not choose their sexual orientation and say that homosexual "inclinations" are not in themselves sinful. Somewhat misleading, as many do choose this lifestyle or are lied into it. This language was probably inserted by homosexual Bishops.

But those who feel such inclinations should remain celibate and should not tell anybody other than close friends and family about them, the document says.

The guidelines oppose same-sex marriages and civil unions and adoption by gay couples, though they say children of gay couples can be baptized. Those who are openly gay should not serve as priests or nuns, the guidelines say. According to the Pope the closeted ones are supposed to take a hike. Don't worry gaylords, we'll find you out.

The head of a group of gay Catholics said the new policy would only drive gays and lesbians further from the church. May I suggest the nearest Episcopal Church?

Yes two on th undergraduate level at one of the best schools in the country.Given sexual segregation in Catholic schools, there seems to be little opportunity for opposite sex molestation

Your premise is false. There are a dozen Roman Catholic schools in the area of my town. Not one is single sex. All the same .. priests could have made their way to girls schools all the same. In fact, much of the abuse happened at the parish level. Why are you straining to defend homosexuals?64% of the victims were 13 or under

Not sure where you get your data mine comes from two sources within the church #1) The John Jay Criminal College report paid for by the Bishops and #2) directly from my Bishop's spokesperson (He was a clean one who had a penchant for cleaning up dirty dioceses.)

Besides, again, your premise is wrong. A 12 year old buy is still a 12 year old boy .. it is what homosexual men crave.

Could be pedofilia or ephebophilia (attraction to young people) but homosexualiy all the same.

My docorate was in statistics and my post-doc at Princeton was in applied math and statistics. Princeton, by the way, has the best mathematics department in the world.

The largest number of these cases came from the 1970's. Where I lived, New Orleans, there were no sexually integrated schools.

A pedophile is a pedophile. Father Porter, one of the most notorious priestly pedophiles, preferred pre-pubertal males and post-pubertal females. He also married in the Church and had his own kids to molest. He was obviously a heterosexual man who didn't like male secondary sexual characteristics.

Okay, so you have good training in statistics. Do you disagree with the statistical analysis of the John Jay Criminal College study? The Bishops were at pains to stress ephebophilia which can be described as a grown man and a 16 year old boy. This detail..16 or 12 never mattered to me.

The biggest issue is that it was homosexual contact and this homosexuality is rife in the Church. The ties between sodomy and satanism are clear.

"the largest number of these cases came from the 1970's" ... this is correct. I have a theory that why the story broke in the 1990s and 2000s is that these victims found themselves in marriages and started have big problems of a psychological/sexual nature.

I can think of two thirty-something NHL hockey players who were in this spot.

A pedofile is a pedofile ... true. The question is whether the priests were going after young girls or young boys. Consistently, we see the overwhelming amount of abuse happening to young boys.

Not sure where you're getting this secondary sexual characteristics stuff...you've strayed away from your statistical expertise and into the murky world of psychology.

Sounds like Fr. Porter is bi-sexual. Did Father Porter have daughters? Isn't he the one that was a founder of NAMBLA?

Regardless of which sexual deviancy is predominant, it's still a sexual deviancy and surrendering to it is not what any priest should be doing, nor condoning, nor covering up for. The larger society is sick with a devotion to all things sexual. Until we can rediscipline ourselves, rediscover real mortification, and practice real penance, this cancer will continue to devour the world and the members of the Church.